What better way to enjoy Halloween than by sitting at home and watching RAW, a show no doubt filled with Halloween characters?

So, Christian quit WWE earlier today… and the Peep Nation, including myself, cried sad tears. But hey, if this means he ends up somewhere that’ll use him properly, I’m all for it. Since WWE won’t do it, I will—I wish him well in his future endeavors.

So, tonight John Cena will battle Shawn Michaels in a non-title match the day before Taboo Tuesday.

Anyhoo…

Yeah, they refuse to see the change in me, why won’t they wake up?!

Tonight we come to you live from Anaheim, California. John Cena battles Kurt Angle. We’ll have a Diva Halloween costume contest, lovely. And Stone Cold Steve Austin will answer Coach’s challenge?! Hasn’t that been done already?

We lead off with GM Eric Bischoff, accompanied by Chris Masters. Coach, by the way, is dressed as Steve Austin, while King’s all out looking gayer than ever in his king costume. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Masters grabs a chair.

EB: So here we are, on the eve of TT, where once again RAW is going to prove its dominance over SD in a special inter-promotional tag-team match. But tonight, live on RAW, Chris Masters has a special Masterlock Challenge for a SmackDown Superstar. So ladies and gentlemen please welcome accompanied by the General Manager of SmackDown Teddy Long… REY MYSTERIO!

Whoa.

Teddy Long’s music plays and he comes out, followed soon afterward by Rey Mysterio and his crappy new theme music. You don’t think Rey’ll end up being the first, do you?

CM: Wow, wow, I gotta give it up. I really didn’t think you had the guts to come out here and take my challenge tonight. You know something Rey-Rey, you’re actually lucky, because usually you’ve gotta be at least—[puts him up on the chair] that tall to ride the Masterlock Challenge.

You know, the short jokes were funny when Kurt Angle was doing them three years ago, but Chris—you’re no Kurt Angle.

Masters asks if Rey has any questions, and Rey says he’s got more of a statement, and plugs him with the microphone. He starts pounding on Masters, and Bischoff calls for reinforcements… but so does Long. Four SD! guys come out to help out Rey—Hardcore Holly, Matt Hardy, JBL, and CHRISTIAN. Whoa. I guess he’s sticking around at least until Taboo Tuesday. The SD! guys clear the ring, and Long says something to the effect that no matter who the fans vote in, RAW is getting their asses kicked at Taboo Tuesday. Hey, how about Hardy and Christian?

When we come back from break, Bischoff gets truly pissed at Edge, Masters and Lita. “I will NOT GO DOWN TO TEDDY LONG! Do you UNDERSTAND ME?! GOOD!”

Kurt Angle’s theme music plays, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that he gets Halloween chyron, and that Lillian is dressed as the Queen of Hearts, something that works very well for her. Angle’s opponent will be Tajiri, and hey, this ought to be a fun match!

Hee, I see someone dressed as Psicosis with an LWO T-shirt in the crowd. Angle starts by lifting Tajiri and dropping him down, and he stomps him, picks him up, and clotheslines him. Two-count. Kurt picks him up and connects with a snap suplex… two-count, one-count. Kurt with a backbreaker, and he stomps on Tajiri’s’ back. He lifts him up but Tajiri comes back with chops… runs into the ropes but he eats an overhead BTB. Kurt celebrates and then applies a body-scissors, even smashing his arm into Tajiri’s face a few times. He gets a near-fall on him, and finally Tajiri breaks out with a couple of chops. But Kurt’s back up to his feet, and he begins kicking Tajiri in the corner and then punching him. Kurt picks Tajiri up, European uppercut, whip into the corner, but Kurt eats a kick, a second one, ducks the third, Kurt goes for a German Suplex but Tajiri breaks away from it and drills him with a superkick, getting a very close two-count. They exchange punches but Tajiri hits a dropkick to Kurt’s face. Springboard move, and Tajiri goes for the Tarantula, but Kurt slips out of it and applies the Ankle Lock, Special Fuck You Variation. Tajiri taps out, but that was a good match, and it made Tajiri look very good.

KA: Cena! Cena! I don’t give a damn who the third opponent is at TT, because I’m walking away the WWE Champion! There ain’t no denying Cena, I beat your ass three times. First time at Unforgiven. Second time I beat you three weeks ago on RAW. And then last week I made your ass tap out right here in the middle of the ring.

Kurt enjoyed it so much, he wants to show the footage again, but Cena runs in during the footage and attacks him. Kurt leaves the ring, and the two exchange angry words (including Kurt calling Cena a “son of a bitch”) as we fade…

I log on to Unlimited, and some guy doing a bad Harry Carey impersonation is encouraging the fans to show off their Halloween costumes. OK.

Back from commercial, we again are told that Cena and Michaels will battle for the first time tonight. And we go to a video package about the Flair/Triple H match at Taboo Tuesday, and the history involved.

And with friends like Triple H, who needs enemies, huh?

After the video, Ric Flair comes out to his music, and stops on the stage.

RF: Game over? I don’t think so. As a matter of fact, the game has just begun. Hunter, I have kissed your ass for so long, tomorrow night I’m going to kick it! I haven’t asked for a lot of favors in my career, but I pray to God we’re in a cage tomorrow night!

Couldn’t they have made the stipulations a little more equal, anyway? How about a choice between a cage match, a street fight and an I-Quit match? Why make an obvious “most physical” choice? (Because they want to avoid spontaneity.)

We enter Unlimited again, and here comes the Harry Carey guy again. Harvey Whippleman? He polls the fans in attendance who they’re gonna vote for at Taboo Tuesday. The crowd noise is hard to hear over the music, but it looks like Shawn Michaels, Jimmy Snuka, and leather and lace are the winners. Unlimited ends immediately afterward, but we have at least three commercials before returning to RAW.

And we come back to Rob Conway. I still think it’s funny that Conway sings his music as he comes down to the ring. We see that Conway defeated Koko B. Ware on Heat, and afterwards beat the hell out of Eugene to top it off. Good for him.

His opponent tonight is Eugene, and he’s pissed. He’s a house of fire, swinging away as he does, and slamming Conway’s head into the turnbuckle a few times. He lifts him up and slams him, and Conway runs out of the ring. He grabs a steel chair but Eugene gets to him beforehand. Conway rolls back into the ring and Eugene follows him, but Conway uses it to take the advantage, and continues it, hitting a Scott Steiner elbow drop to boot. Conway punches him in the corner, and exclaims that “Eugene sucks!”, throwing him into the turnbuckle and hitting a suplex. He slaps the back of Eugene’s head, and slams it into the mat—bad idea. Eugene begins hulking up, the “YOU!” point, and Eugene wins the punch battle. Eugene’s Stunner is blocked, but he hits a Rock Bottom and gets two—Conway’s foot was on the ropes. Eugene thinks he won, but the referee corrects him—and Conway’s outside the ring, where he drills Eugene in the head with the chair, getting a disqualification.

Conway hits Eugene a few more times with a chair, but the WCW World Television Champion “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Kamala, and Jimmy Snuka come out to make the save. Duggan drills Conway with the two-by-four; Kamala splashes him; Snuka hits the Superfly Splash. Lawler even comes down to join the fun and hits a fist drop.

And… ah, Todd Grisham is the Harry Carey impersonator. He tries to talk to Gregory Helms, but Helms just looks at him like he’s nuts. Mick Foley comes out, and says he has a surprise for Carlito.

On Unlimited, Maria talks to Bischoff about his announcement about his nephew Eugene’s match. Last year at Taboo Tuesday, Eugene shaved his head and embarrassed him, but though the fans get to choose Eugene’s partner, Bischoff will choose Conway’s partner—and it’ll be Tyson Tomko. Color me underwhelmed.

Carlito’s music plays, and he comes down to the ring in street clothes.

CCC: Tomorrow night at TT, Carlito doesn’t know if he’s facing Dude Love, Mankind, or Cactus Jack. But he does know one thing—when it’s all said and done, Mick Foley will be beaten, uno, dos y tres. ‘Cuz the only face you need to be concerned with is the face of Carlito. At Taboo Tuesday—

Dude Love appears on the TitanTron, and promptly speaks too quickly for me to type. But no one knows cool like him, daddy-o.

But Coach wants Steve Austin and he wants him now, and he won’t leave the ring until Austin shows up. OK, it’s your life, you have the right to forfeit it if you choose.

Coach says on Unlimited that this is the second week he’s had to call out Steve Austin, and he doesn’t care what kind of match he’s gonna be in—even a street fight. He even gets some cheap heat with some Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim references.

Back on TV.

“Austin, Austin, come out come out wherever you are!” Coach says that he’s got someone in his corner—and Austin might remember the name—

WHOA. Goldust! THAT is cool. Missed ya, Dustin—now ya gotta go to SmackDown and team up with Booker T again!

Coach: Austin, Austin I know you know this man, seeing as how you stuffed him in a porta-potty on national television, Goldust had no problem backing the Coach.

He says that now that he’s revealed his ace in the hole, Austin had better come out, or they’re gonna come get him. And they start to leave the ring, but here comes Vince McMahon?!

Vince hates to disappoint Coach, but Austin isn’t going to come to the ring—he was involved in some sort of accident over the weekend, meaning he won’t be at Taboo Tuesday, or whether he’ll be here tonight. He doesn’t know if the rumors are true, but he declares Coach the victor anyway. But he promised that Coach would compete, so since Coach is the #1 announcer on RAW, it’s only fair that he face the #1 announcer on SmackDown—Funaki!

But Goldust kicks the shit out of Funaki, so…

“Very impressive, let’s hear it for Goldust and the Coach, thank you very much.”

Coach: Boss, boss I know you can do better than that…

And Coach challenges any SmackDown guy to come down and face him… and here comes the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista! He casually walks to the ring as Coach and Goldust look concerned. He nonchalantly takes off his jacket, and Goldust is all “it’s all you, dog.” Batista rolls up his sleeves. Coach punches Batista, and Batista doesn’t look happy—he starts beating the hell out of Goldust. Coach backs away as Batista pummels Goldust, but Vader’s music plays, and as soon as Batista’s done with Goldust, Vader splashes him and beats the hell out of the World Champion!

Vader holds Batista from behind as Coach slaps him, and as they walk off King says he guesses it’s official—Batista will face Coach at Taboo Tuesday, but Coach will have some of the strangest backup ever—Goldust and Vader. Crazy!

On Unlimited, we see a John Cena video, talking about a tour he did in Italy with his rap group. Huh.

As we come back we have *another* John Cena-oriented video—this time talking about a RAW tour in Australia. He’d like Australians to move the island a little closer, ‘cuz it’s a long flight. Hee. We also hear from Ric Flair and (I guess) Shelton Benjamin.

Coach on the subject of how he ended up with Goldust and Vader: “I figured it’s Halloween, what two better guys to help me out?” Good point.

It’s time to play the game, as Triple H comes down, and yup, he is definitely a little flabbier than before his break. He’s still got a damned impressive physique, of course. Say what you want about Triple H, but I love his entrance—particularly how well-timed it is to the music.

And we’re gonna try to have the Triple H/Viscera match again this week. It was a bad idea last week, too.

As Viscera comes over the top rope, Trips crotches him on it, and begins punching the hell out of him. He goes up top, drops an elbow, and delivers mounted punches. Trips picks him up, sets him up for the Pedigree, and that’s it. This match lasted about 20 seconds, tops. If this means the end of Viscera’s WWE career, it happened about six months too late.

Post-match, Trips isn’t done—he beans Viscera in the head with the steel steps. Hey, what good is Val Venis as a tag-team partner if he doesn’t come to your aid in times like these, anyway? Not that I want a prolonged program or anything.

HHH: Ric, you know better than anybody I’ve done a lot of bad things in my life. I take responsibility for all my actions, but I will not be held responsible for what I do to you at Taboo Tuesday. It’s gonna be disturbing, it’s gonna be brutal, but I’ll do it, not because I want to, but because I have to. Because that’s who I am. Ric, because it’s who you *used* to be.

Thanks for keeping the promo down to about a minute this time, Trips.

On Unlimited, several WWE officials help Viscera to his feet. Good luck with that, guys. Next time, bring a forklift. I distinctly hear somebody in the crowd say, “He got knocked the fuck out!” HA! Another fan: “You’re on Candid Camera.”

We see a brief replay, and then a video plugging the WrestleMania Complete Anthology—available tomorrow for a limited time only.

We come back to TV almost immediately after the commercial ends, and we see that RAW won the Neilsens last week—something that Coach is quick to take “most of the credit” for.

We show the matches for Taboo Tuesday, and indeed Triple H/Ric Flair *will* be for the Intercontinental Championship. Hmm.

Coach, by the way, hopes that the match against Batista will be for the World Heavyweight Championship. Damn, he’s ambitious.

Grisham’s backstage with Cena, and Cena wants to talk to Barbara Bush—er, Orville Redenbacher—er, Beethoven—whoever Grisham’s supposed to be. Grisham does an actual funny impersonation for once, but Cena thinks it’s sad. But not as sad as Kurt Angle selling himself out to Eric Bischoff, etc., etc. The champ is here, and at Taboo Tuesday the championship stays here.

As we go to Unlimited, the Heart Throbs come out—dressed in capes and masks for some reason. I don’t get exactly who they’re supposed to be. The Machines? Their music’s great, by the way. Strange, but it fits their eccentric personalities.

The upcoming match is a Texas Tornado match. The Heart Throbs are dressed as Batman and Batman, by the way. Hee. But when Big Show’s music plays, they get serious in a hurry. Don’t tell me—Kane’s his tag-team partner? Yup. Damn, they couldn’t make it more obvious who they wanted you to vote for if they stamped “VOTE FOR MICHAELS!” onto Coach’s forehead.

Romeo and Antonio are lifted up by their hair and body-dropped into the ring, and they spend a few minutes playing “Can you top this?” to try and impress the fans. Romeo and Antonio are the ones who have to suffer for it. But while it’s not a good match, it’s fun to watch. Big Show suplexes one of the Hear Throbs off the top rope, while Kane hits the Big Boot on the other one, flying clothesline and then clothesline over the top rope. It’s clear that Kane and Big Show are having the time of their lives out here. Finally, the fun ends with stereo chokeslams and stereo three-counts. The Heart Throbs got totally squashed, but that was the point—just to let the big guys have some fun.

When we come back, King masturbates in the ring while checking out the divas in their Halloween costumes. Joy.

Todd Grisham talks to Batista backstage… and he calmly talks about how he came out to back up Teddy Long, heard Coach running his mouth, ran out there and got blindsided by a gold guy and a big red truck, so he guesses he’ll see them at Taboo Tuesday. He also takes a moment to make fun of Grisham, which seems to be the order of the night. But he deserves it.

Lawler’s music plays and he comes down to the ring, which is covered with a black tarp and decorated with jack-o-lanterns…

Back on USA, we see highlights of the Taboo Tuesday press conference. Who the hell goes to these things, anyway?

Lawler deejays the Halloween Costume contest, and first out is Ashley, who is dressed as a dark angel, complete with black boots and fishnet stockings. Bleh. “She can tell you to go to hell and look forward to the trip.” That’s one of my boss’s favorite expressions, actually.

Maria comes out wearing—well, very little, but she’s dressed as a good angel, complete with big fluffy halo.

Candice Michelle comes out as Catwoman, with the whip and feline dance.

Mickie James is dressed as, of course, Trish Stratus, complete with a cardboard Women’s Championship belt.

Victoria is dressed as a baseball player, complete with baseball bat and Chicago White Sox hat, ‘cuz she’s a heel.

And Trish Stratus is dressed as Wonder Woman, ha.

Each costume, by the way, is punctuated by strange perverted comments by King. Trish does her belt pose, and Mickie James doubles it. Trish is a little freaked by it.

King goes down the line and has people cheer for their favorite, but as he gets to Candice, Mickie James is apoplectic: “Why are you cheering for them? Trish should be the winner, I mean come on!” Victoria tells her to calm her ass down, and Mickie responds with a belt shot—with her cardboard belt. She just about gets her head knocked off for her trouble, but she ducks the bat swing and kicks Victoria… basically, all hell breaks loose. The faces have a little fun lifting Candice, each of them grabbing a hand or foot and lifting her up—Coach called it “making a wish” on her. Um, OK.

Anyway, the contest ends in a… well, no-contest.

For those of you keeping track at home, Mickie James scored three object points for WWE Fantasy when she hit Victoria with a belt (which had zero effect on Victoria, I should add, since the damn thing was made of cardboard). But, hey, whatever.

No Unlimited footage during the break. John Cena comes out to his music, as he battles Shawn Michaels in a non-title match. My guess is, HBK wins this match. WWE wants you to vote for Michaels, after all. Either Michaels wins, or the thing ends in a no-contest thanks to Angle.

Cena and Angle get nose-to-nose, and shake hands—then Michaels immediately chops Cena. Cena gets pissed and punches, and Michaels backs up into the corner and begs off. They lock up, and Michaels gets him into a hammerlock, reversed by Cena, Michaels gets him into a keylock and forces Cena down to the mat. The crowd is giving Cena a LOUD “You tapped out!” chant, ha! Michaels continues to hold the advantage with some technical wrestling. Cena gets up, whips Michaels into the ropes, but HBK knocks Cena down and keeps the pressure on Cena’s neck with a headlock. Cena gets up, hits an arm drag, but Michaels kicks him in the stomach with both feet and regains the advantage with his headlock. Cena again gets up to his feet, whips HBK into the ropes, Michaels knocks Cena down, but Cena tries to knock HBK out of the ring. HBK skins the cat, but eats a clothesline as he re-enters the ring. Cena gets some knockdowns, but is getting booed against HBK, hee. HBK tricks Cena into chasing him outside the ring, and rolls back in, stomping Cena as soon as he follows. He gets him in the corner and starts chopping the WWE Champion. Cena whips HBK into the corner, HBK flips over, ducks a clothesline and hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. HBK’s up to his feet, and he drops elbows on the back of Cena’s neck. Michaels whips Cena hard into the corner, picks him up, whips him into the ropes and applies a sleeper hold. Cena slumps down to the mat, and the referee raises Cena’s hand—one, two, but not a third time. Faces don’t lose to these things. Cena gets up and hits a back suplex, but both men get to their feet simultaneously and exchange punches. Cena whipped into the corner but Michaels eats a kick, clothesline, clothesline, flying burrito, spinning suplex, “You can’t see me!”, Five-Knuckle Shuffle. Cena lifts him for the F-U but HBK will have none of it—runs into the ropes, flying burrito, nip-up, atomic drop, clothesline, clothesline, scoop-slam, Macho Man Elbow misses! Hey, you broke up the Five Moves of Doom! And yup, here comes Kurt Angle while both men are down, and he stomps away on Shawn Michaels and then John Cena. Overhead BTB on Michaels, but Cena drills Angle with a clothesline and sets him up for the F-U—but Michaels drills Cena with Sweet Chin Music! We hear a LOUD MOTHERFUCKIN’ HBK CHANT as Michaels demands the belt, and he holds it above Cena’s prone body. Another heel turn, or maybe HBK just wants da belt?

DASCOOL: Good main event, and I also liked the Angle/Tajiri match and the return of Vader, Goldust, and the WCW World Television Champion, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. Also nice to see Christian in what will no doubt be one of the last times we see him on WWE television. But I’m still playing as him in SmackDown vs. RAW 2006.

YOU SUCK: The Eugene/Conway match was just another match in the standard Eugene formula, but at least it was short.

WHAT?!: Ironic that it’d end up in this category, but what’s up with Batista taking Austin’s place in the Taboo Tuesday match? More to the point, exactly what the fuck is Batista fighting for, anyway? So, if Batista wins, Jim Ross is re-instated as RAW’s head announcer? What’s his motivation? And if he loses, he’s fired? I find *that* unlikely.

"By the Twelve Gods and in the name of Lord Shojo, I demand to know-- who removed the tag from this mattress?!"--Miko Miyazaki, The Order of the Stick

Originally posted by MeltzerSteve Austin was told he was going to do the job for Jonathan Coachman on Saturday and refused. Apparently he also found out that Jim Ross also wasn't returning as Raw announcer despite how the angle was playing on television.

Christian showing up for no real reasonTorrie being fired apparentlyAustin balking at doing a job to Coach/Henry at TT and thus no showingVader showing up and FALLING ON HIS ASSGoldust being in Coach's corner for no real reason except he doesn't like Austin (but thats all moot now)Funaki jobbingBig Vis putting his head into his body like a turtleLawler wearing a BURGER KING maskMickey James dressed like Trishand thus Victoria selling a CARDBOARD TITLE BELT shot to the headKane showing up and not looking injured and Big Show doing the move that he supposedly was injured doingHeart Throbs are DOUBLE BATMAN!

Just about every segment seemed really weird or done at the last possible minute. Most of Taboo Tuesday's matches are altered now because of all the firing/quitting/noshowing. Really weird.

Originally posted by MeltzerSteve Austin was told he was going to do the job for Jonathan Coachman on Saturday and refused. Apparently he also found out that Jim Ross also wasn't returning as Raw announcer despite how the angle was playing on television.

In what bizzare alternate universe would it make sense for Stone Cold Steve Austin to job to Jonathan fucking Coachman? I'm sure it wouldn't have been a clean job, but what the hell is the point of bringing the biggest star of the last ten years back for his first match in two and half years only to job... to the play by play guy? The ship be sinking.

On a side note, this has to be the weirdest PPV card of all-time, doesn't it?

How could anybody look at Vader and think "Now here is a guy we need to bring back!" He looks awful. It's not good when most of the "legends" that were at RAW's homecoming looked to be at least as good of shape, if not better, than Vader. Goldust, on the other hand, I wish they would keep around.

You would think, given WWE's history with Austin, that they would actually run the entire angle by Austin to see if he would actaully be willing to do it before they actually started it and promoted part of a PPV around it. Austin is who he is, and right or wrong, he's shown that he is not going to do an angle he doesn't like. WWE should know better by now.

So is Torrie gone, too? Well at least they didn't bring in Mae Young as a replacement. With all this going on, moral must be at a all time high inside the company.

(edited by ges7184 on 31.10.05 2235)The Bored are already here. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. And no... we won't kill dolphins. But koalas are fair game.

If Austin's just a guy who comes back once or twice a year -- like, say, Foley -- I don't see much harm in jobbing him. It's not like it's going to kill his heat. (And yes, the fact that I don't like Austin IS coloring my judgment here.)

But jobbing the current Smackdown champion to Coachman? All kinds of stupid. Was Batista really the best alternative they could come up with?

"I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees." -- George W. Bush, Good Morning America, September 1, 2005

I'm not one to make the WCW comparisons and all, but holy fuck was that a Nitrotastic clusterfuck of a show. Raw looks so amazingly directionless now. Creative seems to be attempting to just throw anything at the wall and hope it sticks.

This has seriously got to be one of the most completely bizarre days in wrestling history. At least Dustin is getting deservedly paid.

Did my eyes deceive me, or did HW Champ Batista sell for Goldust and fat-fuck Vader? Terrible. There's no other choice but for Batista to totally destroy Coach, Vader, and Goldust at Taboo Tuesday. Anything less than that is unacceptable.

And once again, SD is heads & shoulders above Raw in terms of quality.

I thought for sure two people dressed as Long and Mysterio would be introduced....Kurt/Tajiri wasn't a total squash, but it was pretty one-sided. Even Kurt squash matches are entertaining, just by the little things he does in the ring....Disappointed Flair didn't get to cut a money promo, but I guess that was a few weeks ago when he made himself bleed....

Always good to see the legends, even if they are Kamala, Snuka and Duggan. This of course will come into play later....I thought Grisham did a nice impersonation of Carey, or rather, a nice impersonation of Will Ferrell doing Harry Carey....I liked the morphing Mick Foley promos, though I wish Mankind was less funny....Wow, that Coach/Goldust/Batista/Vader segment was a clustermess. Talk about booking out of your ass. Austin not being there surpised me, and now the Taboo Tuesday card seems to be in hell in a handbasket. Too bad Vader looks way overweight and stumbled out (and, really, into) of the ring....

Trips/Vis was what it should've been....Putting Kane and Show on a team and having Michaels be with Cena/Angle in the last segment seemed a bit too much in terms of getting the fans to vote for who they (WWE) want....Call me crazy, but I love Mickie James copying Trish....

When they said Tyson Tomko was added to the Eugene and Conway match that got the biggest reaction from me. That's sad.

What was up with the Ric Flair interview? We had to see a video package about how Triple H revived Flair's career single handedly, then we get Flair for about 5 seconds. Then Triple H gets more interview time to tell us he revived Flair's career and gives us a reason for attacking Flair, that I still don't understand.

Christian: I thought he quit today. Well, I sense that he may be gone after Taboo Tuesday.

When they say he quit they mean his contract expired and he hasn't signed a new one. I assume he's come to a verbal agreement to work without a contract through the PPV, a la Jarrett and No Mercy 1999.

1 longish match in a 2+ hour show, and a series of bad bait & switches. Wow. Great work, WWE. Definately not purchasing Taboo Tuesday now, and you'd better put your best effort into Survivor Series, or else I may not buy that either.

And now that I think of it, I'm a bit pissed off about how they've completely destroyed the Smackdown vs. RAW novelty by having them show up over and over again on every show for the last couple weeks.

RAW was like watching a bad car crash. You could not avert your eyes. The whole Austin thing is amazing. WWE spends weeks setting up an angle that they never even wanted. JR out, that Goldberg guy in, simple. But hey, no Goldberg and all the real fans know it. So JR still out and the fans are nuts. So make it an angle, have Austin fight for his friend JR. But Vince knows he is not going to bring back JR anyway. So Austin has to job.. NOT. Goodbye Austin, hello Batista. And the whole Austin fighting Coach for JR's job is never to be heard from again. So pretty much Vince gets what he wants. No JR.

Nice to see Goldust back, but some foresight (or rather Austin turning tail earlier) would have potentially allowed for a Golddust/Hurricane feud to move Helms away from that character in a more entertaining way.

Givn the audience reaction to the SD/RAW war and the appearance of crossover roster stars, you'd think the WWE would realize people aren't so much popping for JBL and Hardcore Holly but for something they haven't seen before. Or quite so recently. This is the most interesting segment on the shows because I don't quite know what's going to happen, unlike the color-by-numbers booking we've seen since RAW moved back to USA.

Kudos to Lawler for wearing the Burger King mask, and why the hell aren't both companies working a Burger King angle where a king-costumed wrestler runs in from the stage (NOT THE CROWD)? They could then use the footage on TV ads on other networks to boost both companies.

And lest you forget: KABLOOEY.

(edited by Matt Tracker on 1.11.05 0614)"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker

Yeah, I thought the point of that was to show that not only was Matt Hardy (version 1) such a shitheel as to sacrifice his best friend to Brock Lesnar, but also that he wouldn't even try to break his fall when Lesnar threw him out of the ring.